Mike Kaffee, Community News Canes Baseball reporter.
The pitching dominated Game 2 of the Fall Classic as Team Green added another point to lead Team Orange with a cumulative score of 4-2. As mentioned in my previous recap, scoring is based on innings won rather than runs scored. If it is tied after the final game (Saturday), it reverts to run differential.
Team Orange’s pitching today was off the charts accounting for 12 of the 16 strikeouts today in shutting down the Green hitting machine to no runs on only 3 hits for 8 innings played. Leading Team Green was Michael Fernandez, a LH freshman hurler, with 7 strikeouts to the 14 batters he faced. For the 4 innings pitched, a single by Renzo Gonzalez in the first and a walk to Elijah Hurt in the third were the only two batters to reach base.
Michael’s opposite number for the first four innings was Nick Robert who may not have got as many strikeouts as Michael (3) but did record the same number of runs scored; that being zero. One hit was recorded coming in the third inning by Evan Taveras who ended up getting picked off at first. No free passes to first and only two outs managed to leave the infield.
Both are impressive starts opening Game Two of the Orange and Green World Series. The second set of pitchers brought a bit more activity but except for the 5th inning, the trend continued of putting zeros across the scoreboard. Brandon Olivera (Green) and Jordan Vargas (Orange) took over duties for the final 4 innings. We saw a bit more activity on the base pads in the second half of the game but for the most part, the lack of runs scored was the order of the day. Brandon had a bit on his plate in his first inning after getting the first two out and then having Gaby Gutierrez single followed by walking Amaury De Jesus. All ended well striking out Elijah Hurt.
The 5th did not go as well for Jordan. Max Galvin opened the inning with a single to third. Daniel’s throw to first was wide of its mark, having Max standing on second. Hit/E5 recorded which would end up being a costly mistake. With a man on second, Todd Hudson continued his hitting ways with an RBI double scoring Max from second which earned Team Green the point but they were not yet done with runs scored. Ethan Puig laid down a beautiful SAC (1-3) advancing Todd to 3rd. Edgardo follows through with a SF to right for the second and final run seen by either side.
Brandon would continue the final three innings giving up a lead-off single to Tanner Smith followed by a one-out walk in the 6th to Renzo going nowhere and a single to Brandon DeGoti in the 7th with similar results. Four strikeouts to his credit.
After losing the point and two runs in the 5th, the 6th and the 7th went easy-peasy with 3up/3down. The 8th started what appeared to be trouble opening with a leadoff single to Todd Hudson. Tanner Smith however put the kibosh to Green adding another point and score by throwing out Todd on an attempted steal. Edgardo attempted to start the rally again with a two-out single only to have Evan Taveras ground out 4-3 to end 7 innings of scoreless ball played with the only blemish on the scoreboard being the crooked number in the 5th by Team Green.
Hitting-wise there was not much of that. It was all about pitching today. Seven hits total with only one extra-base hit: Todd Hudson(double). Todd was also the only one with multiple hit day going 2-3 (double,RBI).
Pitching headlined Game 2 of the Series with Michael Fernandez leading the pack. Being a LH pitcher is an extra plus and will be much in demand out of the BP if he continues like he did today. Nick Robert continues to show that he will be a leading candidate for holding down one of the weekend’s starting pitchers. Brandon Olivera will see his number called for middle relief this season. A mark of improvement from last year. With a little more help from his defense, Jordan would have had a much better day of it. His middle innings(6th,7th) is exactly what JD wants to see in a relief pitcher (bring them up, take them down). A great day for pitching, not so for our hitters.
The defense was a little sloppy at times when the infielders( Cuvet, DeGoti) should think before throwing on a known hit. The footing today seemed to be an issue with both the runners and fielders. Seemed not to be able to get a firm footing retrieving the ball or attempting to steal second. The infielders had their issues where the turf met the grass. Uncertain whether the field was covered which would cause the slippage. The defensive play of the day was in the 7th inning executed by Renzo Gonzalez at first. Jake Kulikowski hits a scorcher down the first baseline. Renzo makes a diving stab for the ball and on his stomach throws Jake out 3-1.
If you like pitching, you missed your opportunity to see four pitchers giving you your money’s worth. they were really on their game and the bats will have to make a better showing tomorrow in Game 3 of the Fall Classic with first pitch at 930AM.
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